Royal Navy appoints first seagoing Captain for HMS Prince of Wales

The first seagoing Captain of the Royal Navy’s second new aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, will be Captain Stephen Moorhouse.

The announcement was made at an event at the Institute of Directors in London just two days before the warship is officially named in Rosyth.

Captain Moorhouse is a former Commanding Officer of HMS Ocean and HMS Lancaster, known as the ‘Queen’s Frigate’ because Her Majesty is the ship’s sponsor.

He will take over next year from Captain Ian Groom, who is serving as the Senior Naval Officer on board HMS Prince of Wales during the carrier’s build programme.

Captain Moorhouse said:

“I am honoured to have been appointed as the first seagoing Captain of HMS Prince of Wales, a hugely exciting job to be in at such an important time for the Royal Navy.

Seeing our sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth make her debut in Portsmouth last month was an amazing sight and I look forward to one day bringing HMS Prince of Wales home to the same warm welcome.

Until then the ship’s company in Rosyth will continue to grow and they have much to be proud of in all the work they have done so far, working with our civilian industry partners to bring this ship to life.”

HMS Prince of Wales is preparing for her official naming ceremony this Friday, to be attended by the ship’s sponsor Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Rothesay.

HMS Prince of Wales, will benefit from ‘lessons learned’ in the construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

People we spoke to on-board the vessel told us that building HMS Prince of Wales has been “20% to 25%” faster than building its sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth. When on HMS Queen Elizabeth in December last year, we were told that the build of HMS Prince of Wales was expected to be around 8 months quicker thanks to “lessons learned” in the build process.

Previous captain, Ian Groom, said:

“We optimised systems and learned how things could be improved both in terms of the systems and also the order in which you build things to make it more efficient and we’re drawing those lessons into Prince of Wales so that we can build it as swiftly as possible to the highest quality.

The reason we need two ships is to make sure that one is always available at very high readiness to provide choice to the government. That choice ranges from hard military power, delivering carrier strike, right down to humanitarian aid or promoting UK trade and industry.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is there now and once HMS Prince of Wales comes into service then the two ships will work side-by-side ensuring one is always available to be used and the second one will be at high readiness and conducting training and maintenance. The ships will leapfrog one another through those roles and that is what continuous carrier availability provides.”

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon earlier announced that HMS Prince of Wales will be officially named at a ceremony in Rosyth on the 8th of September 2017.

The announcement was made during a visit to HMS Queen Elizabeth at sea. According to an ACA press release:

“The Defence Secretary landed by Merlin helicopter on the deck of the new aircraft carrier HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH, which is currently on sea trials off the coast of Scotland. He met with members of the crew and thanked them for their contribution to UK defence.”

While addressing the Ship’s Company, Sir Michael Fallon said:

“Our carrier programme is a clear demonstration of British power and commitment to our global standing. With two aircraft carriers we will have one available at all times, providing a world-class carrier strike capability. They offer a prodigious promise to future generations of our determination to continue fronting up to aggression for years to come.”

Captain Ian Groom also told media ahead of the naming ceremony that HMS Prince of Wales will need to be delivered during 2019 to allow flight trails to continue whilst Queen Elizabeth is undergoing inspection in dry dock.

Quoted in Janes, he said:

“There is a further set of fixed-wing flying trials needed and HMS Prince of Wales has to carry them out. HMS Queen Elizabeth’s re-certification period in 2019 means we need HMS Prince of Wales then.”

The builders are already applying lessons from including improvements to the process of preparing its heat-resistant flight deck and installing an improved F-35 landing light systems earlier in the build process.

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People are being tight lipped about why PoW is three thousand tons heavier than his sister (or mother)? Does anyone know what ‘Ocean’ functions require the extra tonnage? I assume PoW will perform additional duties over and above QE.

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1 year ago

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Ian

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Gonna be lean on planes given today’s news

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1 year ago

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Mike Saul

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Would be nice to see an article on press speculation regarding defence cuts.

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1 year ago

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Stephen G.

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The fleet solid support ships should be assembled in Rosyth. They should also think about bidding for cruise ships like France, Germany and Italy do, they could be built in blocks around the U.K. and assembled in Rosyth.

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1 year ago

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Mike Saul

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Given the success of the tidespring project and the inability of UK shipbuilding to put in a competitive quote that is unlikely.

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1 year ago

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TH

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John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “If we are ever going to balance the books then it is essential that a culture of delivering best value for money exists across the public sector and the MoD cannot be any different.”

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John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “If we are ever going to balance the books then it is essential that a culture of delivering best value for money exists across the public sector and the MoD cannot be any different.” Two Royal Navy ships and battlefield training for thousands of troops will be cut to save money from the defence budget, The Times has learnt. A slowdown in the purchase of next-generation F-35 Lightning II warplanes from the United States is under consideration as military chiefs and mandarins struggle to find up to £30 billion in savings over the… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Lewis

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Do you ever get tired of writing the same copy paste comment in every article? You really are pathetic.